Kevin Hart is frank about the adult version of 'About Last Night'

This image released by Sony Pictures shows Kevin Hart, left, and Regina Hall in a scene from "About Last Night." (Matt Kennedy/AP Photo/Sony Pictures)

It looks like Kevin Hart's time has finally arrived.

The 34-year-old comedian, who's been appearing in movies and TV series for close to a dozen years, charted his first co-starring role in a $100 million-grossing film with the January release “Ride Along.”

This on the heels of his record-breaking comedy concert films “Laugh at My Pain” (2011) and “Let Me Explain” (2013), and a part in the ensemble of the 2012 hit “Think Like a Man.” The sequel to that one is scheduled for a June release. But now, in time for Valentine's Day, there's “About Last Night,” a remake — in name mostly — of the 1986 Brat Pack dramedy based on David Mamet's play “Sexual Perversity in Chicago.”

The new movie is set in Downtown Los Angeles, but Hart assures us that this version reinstates some of Mamet's perversity and adds more raunchy laughs than either previous incarnation could boast.

“Of course, it's a remake of the original 'About Last Night,'” ” Hart explains from an airliner awaiting takeoff. “But what we actually did was, we took the mold from the original but kind of followed more of the actual play. We just went edgier, we modernized it, made it something our generation can relate to a little more by referencing what real aspects of relationships today are, the good side and the bad side.

“This is the much more adult version, I guess you could say.”

Advertisement

You could say so. In the movie, Hart reteams with “Think Like a Man” co-star Regina Hall as a couple with a very active and imaginative sex life that's only matched for passion by their outrageous fights. Bernie and Joan, as they're called, get even more confused when their respective best friends, Danny (Michael Ealy, another “Think” alum) and Debbie (Joy Bryant), meet, hit it off and struggle to establish a domestic bond.

“It captures how men converse about their relationships to one another, and how women converse about it to one another,” Hart earnestly points out. “It's more of a movie that, I guess you can say, is universal to the point where anybody and everybody can watch it. And it's a great conversation piece because it touches on so many real aspects of today's relationships.”

Like, um, the erotic potential of poultry costumes. Or Bernie showing up at a Halloween party as Channing Tatum from “Magic Mike.” Sheer verisimilitude, the actor says.

“You know, me and Channing Tatum basically favor each other,” jokes Hart, who is 5 feet, 4 inches tall yet muscled. “We're close to each other in features as well as physical assets. I think that's probably the most amazing thing in the world, for him to favor me, to be along the same lines as me, physically. Now I'm showing the world that that's true.”

Hart did a male stripper bit at the Broadway Bar, one of many downtown locations used by the movie — one of the few productions that actually filmed in L.A. last year without the benefit of any state tax incentives.

“Downtown L.A. is definitely on the uprise,” Hart says of the fast-gentrifying area. “It's doing well, they're remodeling it to the point where it's become an attraction. We enjoyed shooting down there, and also we got a great feeling out of those locations. The look of our movie is amazing.”

Those familiar with his comedy act know that bragging isn't really something Hart does naturally. He builds his humor around jokes about his height and his other insecurities. He was pretty much raised by his strong-willed mother in Philadelphia while his dad dealt with substance abuse issues, and his day job while trying to make it in comedy clubs was selling shoes.

There's a fundamental humility to Hart that comes out, refreshingly, when he discusses his latest success.

“I definitely didn't do it by myself,” he says of the buddy cop phenomenon “Ride Along.” “Ice Cube played a large part in it, and he's a great co-star. He's been around for a long time, and it takes two people to make a movie of this stature. He and I bounced off each other like nobody's business. He was great to work with, and the result was we got ourselves a great movie and possible franchise.”

Well, actual franchise. Hart confirmed that “Ride Along” sequels were written before the movie even opened, and the first of them will film this summer.

In the meantime, there's the “Think Like a Man” follow-up and another movie, “The Wedding Ringer,” a new season of his reality show satire “Real Husbands of Hollywood,” guest spots and live appearances.

Comparisons to Eddie Murphy are being made. Not by Hart, though.

“Of course it's an honor,” he says. “But you know, you can't be Eddie Murphy. He's accomplished so much, he's on a pedestal. All I'm trying to do is be Kevin Hart and create a legacy of my own. And the only way to do that is to grind hard, work and stay focused, and that's what I'm doing.”

ODESSA, Texas (AP) — A West Texas man has been charged with impersonating an officer by using sirens and flashing lights to skip to the head of the drive-thru line at a fast-food restaurant. Full Story

Sufjan Stevens, "Carrie & Lowell" (Asthmatic Kitty) Plucked strings and pulsing keyboards dominate the distinctive arrangements on Sufjan Stevens' latest album, and in the absence of a rhythm section, they serve to keep time. Full Story